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Jim Bouton, former pitcher, 'Ball Four' author, dies at 80

The former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked baseball with his tell-all book has died at his home.

Credit: AP

FILE - This 1967 file photo shows New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton. Jim Bouton, the New York Yankees pitcher who shocked the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book "Ball Four," has died, Wednesday, July 10, 2019. He was 80. (AP Photo/File)

Author: Associated Press

Published: 10:21 PM EDT July 10, 2019

Updated: 10:35 PM EDT July 10, 2019

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Jim Bouton, the former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book "Ball Four," has died. He was 80.

Bouton's family said he died Wednesday at the home he shared with wife Paula Kurman. He fought a brain disease linked to dementia and was in hospice care. Bouton also had two strokes in 2012.

Published in 1970, "Ball Four" detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle's carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. Bouton's revealing look at baseball off the field made for eye-opening and entertaining reading, but he paid a big price for the best-seller when former teammates, other players and executives across the big leagues ostracized him for exposing their secrets.

Throwing so hard that his cap flew off his head, Bouton was 21-8 with six shutouts in 1963 — his second season in the majors — and went 18-13 with four more shutouts in 1964. The Yankees lost the World Series both years, with Bouton losing his lone start in 1963 in New York's loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and winning twice the following year in the Yankees' loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.